: Bojan Bogdanovic #44 of the Indiana Pacers warms up prior to a game against the Philadelphia 76ers on November 7, 2018 at Bankers Life Fieldhouse in Indianapolis, Indiana. Ron Hoskins, NBAE/Getty Images

Domantas Sabonis #11 of the Indiana Pacers warms up prior to a game against the Philadelphia 76ers on November 7, 2018 at Bankers Life Fieldhouse in Indianapolis, Indiana. Ron Hoskins, NBAE/Getty Images

INDIANAPOLIS – You wonder how long this will last. Myles Turner and Domantas Sabonis, both members of the Indiana Pacers.

This was the vision of a year ago, after that glorious trade where the Pacers sent Paul George to the Oklahoma City Thunder for Sabonis and Victor Oladipo. Just like that, boom, the Pacers had a nucleus of three young players, none older than 25, none having approached his ceiling. They had a foundation. They had a future.

And now, they have an issue.

A problem, you could call it, though that word seems a stretch for a Pacers team still two games above .500 after losing 100-94 Wednesday night to the Philadelphia 76ers. The Pacers are 7-5 overall today, tied with the 76ers for fourth in the Eastern Conference. Today’s not so bad.

But tomorrow is coming for a franchise winning just enough to pick somewhere in the low 20s in the 2019 NBA Draft, making it unlikely they’ll find the player they need to continue their rise up the East. And what they need is another playmaker. It’s what everyone in the NBA needs, everyone but the Golden State Warriors (Steph Curry, Klay Thompson, Kevin Durant, Draymond Green) and Boston Celtics (Kyrie Irving, Jayson Tatum, Gordon Hayward, Jaylen Brown). Everyone else needs playmakers, shot-makers. An NBA team can’t have too many starter-quality players on the perimeter.

But an NBA team can have too many starter-quality players in the post.

Two. That’s the number. That’s too many.

Doesn’t seem like a big deal, right? Two centers? Is that really too much? In a word: Yes. In three words: New Orleans Pelicans.

While the NBA has been zigging in the direction of small-ball, the Pelicans zagged late in the 2015-16 season by trading for 6-11 center DeMarcus Cousins to pair with 6-10 center Anthony Davis. It was a revolutionary and terrifying idea, those two skilled former Kentucky big men together, but it didn’t really work. Over the next 1½ seasons the Pelicans were better, but only marginally so, and they let Cousins walk in free agency after the 2017-18 season.

And if it didn’t work with All-NBA talent like Davis and Cousins – and to be clear, it didn’t work – how will it work with Turner and Sabonis?

Understand, I’m an admirer of the 6-11 Turner and 6-11 Sabonis. On the court, off the court. Big admirer here. They are good young players and great young men, and while once upon a time Turner (11.7 points, 4.9 rebounds per game) was seen as the franchise's future, hailed by former Pacers President Larry Bird as having a chance “to be one of the best players or maybe the best player” in Pacers history, the title of team superhero belongs to Oladipo — and it’s Sabonis (13.9 ppg, 8.7 rpg) who has become the Robin to Oladipo’s Batman.

Sabonis was dominant in 31 minutes Wednesday, with 16 points and 11 rebounds and embarrassing 76ers center Joel Embiid with a hide-the-women-and-children dunk on the pick-and-roll with Oladipo. Turner, meanwhile, had seven points and four rebounds in 30 minutes, and a fan behind me in Section 107 spent the fourth quarter screaming: “Bench Myles Turner! Trade him!”

After the game, Embiid sought out one Pacer to show his respect. He lifted his hand and saluted. Sabonis saluted back.

This is how good Sabonis has become, and I’m going to ask you to have a seat before you read further: In the NBA advanced statistic called Player Efficiency Rating (PER), arguably the best way to gauge a player’s overall contribution to his team — think WAR, in Major League Baseball — Sabonis is third in the NBA at 27.7, behind only former MVP’s Steph Curry (30.0) and Kevin Durant (27.8).

Sabonis is third.

Turner’s PER is a respectable 16.2, which ranks sixth … on the Pacers. His PER is helped by his defense, with Turner doing a significantly better job defending the rim than Sabonis (3.3 blocks per 36 minutes for Turner, compared to 0.9 for Sabonis), because it’s like I said:

But so is Sabonis, and while there’s nothing wrong with that 7-5 record or sitting fourth in the Eastern Conference, the Pacers have another large step to take, and making that step, acquiring that player, requires what the NBA calls “assets.”

Sabonis is an asset. So is Turner.

You see where this is going, don’t you? Here’s a hint: Look where it’s not going. It’s not going onto the floor, where Sabonis and Turner had played together an average of 5 minutes per game entering Wednesday. And in those 40 minutes spread over eight earlier games, according to NBA.com, the Pacers’ rating was minus-10.9. In other words, opposing teams were 10.9 points better per 100 possessions when the Pacers play Sabonis and Turner together.

Which is why coach Nate McMillan doesn’t do it very often.

Now, he’d like to do it more. He was telling me before the game Wednesday that he has tinkered with his rotation of late, making Sabonis his first substitute to get him more minutes. Sure enough, Sabonis replaced power forward Thaddeus Young with 6:53 left in the first quarter. The Pacers trailed 15-4, but with Sabonis teaming with Turner – and with Oladipo just going off, scoring 15 of his game-high 36 points in the quarter – the Pacers whittled six points from the lead, drawing within 24-19. By halftime the game was tied at 50.

The 76ers have a huge (but skilled) team – 7-0 Joel Embiid, 6-10 Dario Saric, 6-10 Ben Simmons and 6-9 Robert Covington started, and two 6-9 players came off the bench early – and that allowed McMillan to go big with confidence. He went big several more times Wednesday but it backfired twice, the 76ers pulling away and forcing McMillan to go smaller. The 61 combined minutes for Turner and Sabonis were a season high, and all it got the Pacers was an uglier-than-the-score-says loss to an Eastern Conference peer.

“I think it depends on matchups,” McMillan said when I asked him why he doesn’t play Turner and Sabonis together more. “We haven’t seen two monsters in the post. Most of these teams are still playing with their spread guys.”

Which is the point, really: The NBA is playing faster, and the 2018-19 Pacers are playing slower. According to NBA.com they are dead last in the NBA in pace, as measured by possessions per game, and 24th in the league in scoring at 106.6 ppg. Amazing, with that offense, that they are 7-5 and fourth in the Eastern Conference. But how sustainable is it? And more to the point, what kind of future does it provide?

So I’m asking Nate the real question, and he’s nodding when I finish: Is it a hard thing, I’m saying, when two of your best four or five players play the same position, and can’t be on the court together more than they are?

“Yeah,” he said. “That is a challenge, those two guys playing the center position.”

The trade deadline will be interesting. The NBA is getting smaller and faster, yes, but there is a place on every good team for a fine young center. One fine young center, OK? One. There are teams that don’t have one, and what do you know? The Pacers have two.

And these two are going in different directions. For whatever reason, Turner’s production per 36 minutes has shrunk this season to a career-low 15.7 points and 6.6 rebounds. Sabonis, meanwhile, has lifted his production over 36 minutes to career bests 21.3 points and 13.3 rebounds. Neither shoots 3-pointers — Turner has made two all season, Sabonis one — but Sabonis is the better shooter overall (68.4 percent to 51 percent), Turner the better defender. Which to keep? Which to trade? Great question. Glad it’s not my call.

Moving either would tamper with the Pacers’ best quality, the unbelievable chemistry sparked by the trade that brought Oladipo and Sabonis from Oklahoma City. Moving Paul George paved the way for Turner to be The Next One, but he gracefully stepped aside as Oladipo assumed that role. Turner and Sabonis have a great relationship as well, even as their dual presence prevents each other from putting up the numbers – and getting the recognition, and contractual value – they could have in a solo role.

Tricky, all of it. What the Pacers have right now, it works well enough. But what they have is an NBA anomaly, a nod to yesterday. The Pacers are pleased to be winning today, but they are building toward a better tomorrow. Not sure how they get there, when one of their best players keeps another of their best players on the bench.